Ohio EPA Loans MVSD $6.36M for Upgrades

MINERAL RIDGE, Ohio – A $6.36 million low-interest loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will assist the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District with needed upgrades to its distribution valves and transmission mains.

The Ohio EPA loan is from its Water Supply Revolving Loan Account, which provides below-market interest rate loans for compliance-related improvements for community water systems and nonprofit, non-community public water systems. The lower rate of the Ohio EPA loan will save MVSD an estimated $1.26 million, according to the EPA release.

The interest rate for the 20-year loan is 0.81%, according to an Ohio EPA spokeswoman.

In October, the district embarked on the third phase of a valve replacement and transmission main repair and replacement on public water system pipes, said Tom Holloway, MVSD’s chief engineer.

“The valves are 85 years old,” he said. “Some years back we realized the age and the condition, and the ability to operate these pipes was an issue.”

The district, operated by Youngstown and Niles, provides service to communities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

The upgrades, broken into phases, have been underway since 2011, Holloway reported. This phase will cost $7.5 million and is expected to be completed by mid-2018.

Valves are being consolidated as part of the work in some cases, Holloway said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.